BREAKING According to ESPN, Lincoln Riley to Become USC Head Coach

[Ole Man Dan]

Riley to USC; says OU exit 'most difficult decision'

In a stunning move on Sunday, Lincoln Riley accepted the head-coaching position at USC. Former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops will return as the Sooners' interim coach.

www.espn.com

Bruce Feldman tweeted about this earlier today too. No one is closer to that program than him. Im not surprised he's leaving. Too smoke. Had to be fire somewhere.

What were they thinking?

 

[JDCrimson]

He probably looked into the NFL first and found no openings so he took the next best option USC. He will use that position to jump the NFL bank on it.

 

[wishbonesooner]

Riley is, in my opinion, soft. The whole season people have been shaking their heads at why Riley has been so inconsistent in game planning. If your O line is inexperienced, you dont keep asking your QB to drop straight back and get hammered, you get him on the edge with his quickness. I agree that he was scared of the move to the SEC. If you dont want to be in Norman, get your tail out. Someone mentioned Venables. I doubt he would want to come back where you got run off.
Good work yesterday.

 

[JDCrimson]

He apparently has a variant of the BoB virus...

Riley is, in my opinion, soft. The whole season people have been shaking their heads at why Riley has been so inconsistent in game planning. If your O line is inexperienced, you dont keep asking your QB to drop straight back and get hammered, you get him on the edge with his quickness. I agree that he was scared of the move to the SEC. If you dont want to be in Norman, get your tail out. Someone mentioned Venables. I doubt he would want to come back where you got run off.
Good work yesterday.

 

[scrodz]

Riley to USC; says OU exit 'most difficult decision'

In a stunning move on Sunday, Lincoln Riley accepted the head-coaching position at USC. Former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops will return as the Sooners' interim coach.

www.espn.com

Running from Oklahoma, not going to coach LSU...

Anyone else think he doesn't want to compete in the SEC?

 

[scrodz]

Not Oklahoma, not LSU...

I guess he doesn't want to play in the SEC.

 

[Tug Tide]

Riley is, in my opinion, soft. The whole season people have been shaking their heads at why Riley has been so inconsistent in game planning. If your O line is inexperienced, you dont keep asking your QB to drop straight back and get hammered, you get him on the edge with his quickness. I agree that he was scared of the move to the SEC. If you dont want to be in Norman, get your tail out. Someone mentioned Venables. I doubt he would want to come back where you got run off.
Good work yesterday.

@wishbonesooner
I’m sure most of us would love to hear your thoughts on OU’s next coach. Who would you like/who do you expect to it be?
I wonder how tempting it will be for Stoops after jumping in to coach the bowl game.

 

[RammerJammer14]

This is almost a lateral move or even a lower tier. Why leave Oklahoma for USC? The PAC12 sucks

I almost expect to hear a story about an attractive coed or something. Don’t usually see moves like this without being fired or “encouraged to move on”.

 

[RammerJammer14]

@wishbonesooner
I’m sure most of us would love to hear your thoughts on OU’s next coach. Who would you like/who do you expect to it be?
I wonder how tempting it will be for Stoops after jumping in to coach the bowl game.

I heard they were taking a hard look at Bill O’Brien?

 

[Joefus]

Agreed, but in the PAC he can make the CFP almost every year. In the SEC?

Give him credit. This is the smart play.

Work smart not hard

 

[81usaf92]

This is almost a lateral move or even a lower tier. Why leave Oklahoma for USC? The PAC12 sucks

USC has more advantages and it will give him what he wants. Alot of rumblings coming out that Oklahoma and Riley had a Fisher and Florida State issues behind the scenes (facilities upgrades). Ultimately the biggest loser is LSU. Now LSU is the second best open job in the country. So the biggest winners are USC and Florida.

 

[81usaf92]

From stuff I’ve been told from people in the know at Nebraska… don’t be surprised if Lane Kiffin and Jimmy Sexton push hard for this opening. From what I was told Kiffin told both LSU and Nebraska to not even consider him through middle men and that they believed Oklahoma job was in the process of opening up mid way through the season.

If Kiffin somehow wound up at LSU or Florida then it was going to be a near Harbaugh level contract from what they said, to which neither were ever going to pay. You can see it already with the names that were/are seriously being considered from both.

Again there is a reason Scott Frost is still at Nebraska and don’t think for a second that Nebraska didn’t have the money to pay the buy out and still be able to afford a high profile coach. Take it for what it’s worth

 

[81usaf92]

Sooner fans think that Kingsbury is going to leave the NFL to coach there.

They are stupid if they seriously believe that. Kings bury is about to get a massive raise

 

[TitleWave]

I almost expect to hear a story about an attractive coed or something. Don’t usually see moves like this without being fired or “encouraged to move on”.

All pros, no cons on Riley's bailing - an Okie Grapes of Wrath migration away from the SEC and a Grapes of Wealth migration living large (and coaching easy/smarter) in the Pac-12.

Plus, after he whined when Aranda kicked a last-second FG a couple weeks ago, his Sooner man card was under further review while Cali's atmosphere of inclusivity and tolerance of "defenseless" crybabies will be more accepting...

 

[DogPatch]

In Norman, he is pretty much the only game in town. In LA, he can go where he wants and most people won’t notice. They have two teams in all four pro sports plus movie and TV stars.

Two hockey teams?

 

[Crimson1967]

Two hockey teams?

LA Kings and the Anaheim Ducks.

 

[scrybe]

He's choosing the path of least resistance and going where 2-4 losses/season is acceptable. He'll make a lot of money and enjoy the good life in LA with a fawning press and media. I understand the decision, but I lost some respect for the guy.

I give this post five stars, d-man. And the part about losing respect for LR: that makes two of us.

 

[TNBama]

Sure reminds me of Fran losing to Auburn when he knew he was bolting. Another case of a team losing to their rival due to the head coach focusing on his upcoming job and not the one at hand.

 

[wishbonesooner]

I have not had much chance to hear much yet. I heard Venables name, but I seriously doubt that one. AD Joe Castiglione has been quiet so far. We heard Riley didn't tell the team he was leaving, Bob Stoops gathered the team to break the news. If Caleb Williams doesn't follow Riley to USC, you can rest assured Spencer Rattler will.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Riley is, in my opinion, soft. The whole season people have been shaking their heads at why Riley has been so inconsistent in game planning. If your O line is inexperienced, you dont keep asking your QB to drop straight back and get hammered, you get him on the edge with his quickness. I agree that he was scared of the move to the SEC. If you dont want to be in Norman, get your tail out. Someone mentioned Venables. I doubt he would want to come back where you got run off.
Good work yesterday.

Bill O'Brien be like: "What is this witchcraft you speak of?"

I agree, though. And as a OU friend brought up to me yesterday - Riley appears to have been really focusing on west coast recruits this year, has this been in the works all season? If so, it would explain how inexplicably poor OU has played relative to what most of us expected before the season started. Most everyone expected the USC job to open this year.

And I do think he's soft. I think he see the waters getting rougher in the near future and is running away from the challenge. Time and again we've discussed the type of man that becomes a championship coach, and generally speaking they're the type to run into the burning building, so to speak, not away from it...